More Money More Problems F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the great American novel with a full wariness of the enticing yet hazardous control that the dollar bill has over the American people. When at times it seems money may bring everlasting happiness, the characters in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby quickly realize that wealth and fortune only lead to heartbreak, betrayal and in some circumstances, even death. The Great Gatsby is a true rags to riches story about poor boy James Gatz, who fantasized about the illustrious world of the wealthy and, after some shady and very illegal business dealings with Meyer Wolfsheim, reached his monetary dream. Not without consequence though, as those around him, including Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Myrtle Wilson, …show more content…
and Nick Carraway, all become consumed by the same green fire that overcame Gatsby and in the end - burned him. Throughout his novel, Fitzgerald expresses the notion of wealth in a negative light, and addresses how its deceitfulness clouds, corrupts, and chains the heart in an endless cycle of desire. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby’s tragically, unrequited love for Daisy as evidence to the harsh games of chicanery that wealth so often plays. However, before a word of Gatsby’s story is even uttered, Fitzgerald begins with an epigraph by Thomas Parke D’Invilliers: Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her; If you can bounce high, bounce for her too, Till she cry “Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover, I must have you!” (Fitzgerald 1) This sets, quite clearly, that the major theme of the novel is wealth and how it’s attainability is the only way of means to grasp what one desires most. Paralleled with the epigraph is Gatsby’s affair with Daisy. Prior to the present events in the novel, Gatsby and Daisy had a brief romance, before Gatsby was shipped back overseas for the war - leaving Daisy with the choice of waiting for Gatsby and risking the potentiality of becoming a spinster and social outcast for life, or marrying dashing Tom Buchanan and thriving alongside the privileged and elite. Daisy fell for wealth’s tricks that told her to marry for social survival instead of love, and poor Gatsby was left with only one option to win her back - to “wear the gold hat” (1). Gatsby, heartbroken by Daisy’s decision, spends the rest of the novel (and his life) trying to win back her affections to the point of, after accumulating a mass of wealth, arranges a “chance-encounter” and invites her over to his house. It is there that in a strange daze of disillusioned bliss, Gatsby begins burying her in layers of fine linen and silk shirts. Overwhelmed, Daisy falls into the pile sobbing, “They're such beautiful shirts... it makes me sad because I've never seen such—such beautiful shirts before” (98). Here Daisy fully recognizes Gatsby’s eligibility of being a proper partner (proper as in rich enough to maintain her social status and therefore, fit to enter into a relationship with). Her materialistic views clouded her eyes from seeing Gatsby as anything more than a fantasy, until the fabric parade of his copious amounts of wealth allowed her to finally view Gatsby as an equal. Unfortunately, in the end, Tom’s traditional, “old money” lifestyle still presided over Gatsby’s socially-inept “new money” status, resulting in Daisy choosing Tom again over Gatsby. Daisy’s attraction to wealth and lack of passion caused her to neglect the chemistry she shared with Gatsby, proving the deceptiveness of wealth, especially in matters of the heart. Much like her relationship with Gatsby, Daisy’s marriage to Tom was also broken and served as the perfect example as to what happens when money and desire take over and corrupt a person’s heart.
After the unfortunate incident that resulted in the death of Myrtle and later Gatsby, the Buchanans walk away unscathed and free of any well-deserved punishment. Towards the end of the novel, Nick reflected on the tragic outcome remarking that “they were careless people Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (187). For Daisy and Tom, wealth created a lack of responsibility; they were able to gallivant from town to town without fear of getting hurt. However, even when it seems no one can get hurt someone always does. In the case of Tom and Daisy, they may have been able to walk away, but many characters suffered and the carnage of the events of that summer all originated from envy and …show more content…
wealth. The greatest deception of wealth, however, might not be its ability to corrupt but its ability to make people believe they can be satisfied by it and the fact that people keep believing it. Ecclesiastes 5:10 (NIV) gives the warning, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.” Yet even in the 1920s, Fitzgerald beautifully displays how easy it is to get sucked into the trap of wanting more. Gatsby was never satisfied with what he had - not with his “shiftless and unsuccessful” (104) parents, his wealth (he did not drink or enjoy his own parties) and not even with Daisy, who not only had to admit her love for Gatsby to Tom but also that she “never loved him” (139) in the first place. Gatsby used wealth as a means to escape his poor childhood and get the girl of his dreams; however, in the end, Gatsby realized that the endless cycle of wanting more only ended in destruction. Myrtle, like Gatsby, also became entrapped in wealth’s “satisfaction snare” and suffered greatly because of it.
Myrtle longed for an escape from her impoverished life with her husband in the valley of ashes, and Tom Buchanan provided that escape. Through their affair, Myrtle gained a double life in the upper class, complete with an apartment, a dog, paintings and parties. Nick remarks on her different persona: “The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was converted into impressive hauteur” (35). Myrtle’s materialistic perspective allows her to lavish in the luxuries of the rich lifestyle, but the reality of her upbringing still puts her below Tom and Daisy in social class. This is made evident when Tom breaks her nose with “a short deft movement” (41), and when Daisy runs Myrtle over with Gatsby’s car. Fitzgerald utilizes Myrtle's character to show how materialism and wealth do not actually lead to happiness and
fulfillment. Wealth and its deceptive grasp on Fitzgerald’s cast of characters haunts and deludes them through much of novel, blatantly showing the negative impact money can have on people as a whole. Gatsby spends the majority of the novel relentlessly and unsuccessfully pining after Daisy, who is so blinded by materialism that she ignores her heart (and head). Tom and Daisy’s relationship also represented the brokenness and recklessness of the world, and how money not only created a fiscal gap between social classes but a mental one as well. This is no more evident than in Myrtle, who seemingly took on a brand new persona whenever around Tom; her vitality cut short by the needs of those “superior” to her in class. Gatsby, like Myrtle, was hypnotised by the need for more wealth and his ever-growing desire for Daisy; tragically, disappointment was all Gatsby was left with as everything he had worked so hard to achieve disappeared in a vapor with his life. America seems to have always associated wealthiness with happiness and prosperity; perhaps Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby as warning to the American people that they need to change their perspective - to be cautious of where they laid their treasures, for that was also where their heart was.
During the time in our country's history called the roaring twenties, society had a new obsession, money. Just shortly after the great depression, people's focus now fell on wealth and success in the economic realm. Many Americans would stop at nothing to become rich and money was the new factor in separation of classes within society. Wealth was a direct reflection of how successful a person really was and now became what many people strived to be, to be rich. Wealth became the new stable in the "American dream" that people yearned and chased after all their lives. In the novel entitled the great Gatsby, the ideals of the so called American dream became skewed, as a result of the greediness and desires of the main characters to become rich and wealthy. These character placed throughout the novel emphasize the true value money has on a persons place in society making wealth a state of mind.
In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, money plays a large role in the character’s lives. Money is used to change their appearances throughout the novel. All the characters use their money in a different way. Gatsby attempts to use his money to win back his one true love, Daisy. Myrtle Wilson uses money she does not have to change her appearance towards others. But others are used to having wealth, and they are experienced in the ways of being rich. These people include Tom and Daisy Buchanan. The narrator, Nick Caraway, moves east searching for wealth, but never achieves that goal. The entire novel is filled with wealth and riches, but is money to be seen as a privilege or a curse? Characters in The Great Gatsby try to recreate themselves using money.
In the book, The Great Gatsby, written by F.Scott Fitzgerald, there seems to be conflict between old money and new money. New money meaning that they have inquired wealth recently, and old money meaning they have inherited the money from their ancestors and have been building up their powerful social connections for many years. Fitzgerald portrays new money as being reckless and unwise with their wealth by lavishly spending their money on new cars,new clothes and parties. On the other side of the spectrum, old money individuals are presented as being more responsible and knowing how to handle their money. The difference between these two social classes goes beyond the way they spend money, but, in their personalities also; the new money groups tend to be more caring and lacking in social graces while old money are deeply selfish and inconsiderate. This conflict between the two ranks is very interesting in that even though the book takes place in the 1920s, this concept is fully evident in our society today.
In both The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" by Flannery O'Connor, the protagonists are searching for some type of fulfillment in life, and they both believe that they can obtain it through material belongings and behaving in a carless fashion. Both protagonists, Jay Gatsby and Mr. Shiftlet, do obtain material possessions thinking that these possessions will make them happy; however, neither are able to obtain a sense of fulfillment. F. Scott Fitzgerald in The Great Gatsby and Flannery O'Connor in "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" illustrate their disapproval of searching for fulfillment in life through possessions and careless behavior through motifs of greed, foreshadowing, and symbolism in order to allow their audiences to feel the same rejection toward searching for fulfillment and happiness in wealth and careless behavior.
Throughout the novel, one of Tom 's biggest careless acts was when he cheated on Daisy. Tom is a cocky, confident man shown many times throughout the novel like when Nick arrived at his house and "Tom Buchanan in riding clothes was standing with his legs apart on the front porch" (Fitzgerald 6). His stance showed his arrogance, and how highly he thought of himself because of his wealth. Tom was a man who often acted without thinking things through, like having an affair with Myrtle. Despite both Tom and Myrtle being married, they both had affairs. Tom doesn 't hide his affair from Nick and introduces him to his mistress Myrtle at Wilson 's garage. Tom doesn 't seem to care if anyone finds out because he feels as though nothing would change due to his wealth. While at Myrtle 's husbands garage, Tom tells Myrtle to meet him at the train station. They end up going to their apartment in New York City that they keep for their affair. While at the Morningside Height 's apartment Myrtle starts to talk about Tom 's wife Daisy, ""Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!" shouted Mrs. Wilson. "I 'll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai-"" (Fitzgerald 37). Tom didn 't like Myrtle overstepping her boundaries and to show
Benjamin Franklin once said “Money has never made man happy, nor will it. There is nothing in its nature to produce happiness." This is arguably one of the most cliché quotes of all time. If money cannot provide happiness, then what exactly can it do? The characters of Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan open a door to a world in which money was the sole motivation for their success and the only reason for their power. When the reader uses a Marxist critical lens during chapter four of F. Scott 's Fitzgerald 's The Great Gatsby, the social hierarchy reveals how Jay Gatsby and Tom Buchanan utilize the importance of money and social power to manipulate others in their lives.
Myrtle is selfish, shallow and greedy. She is willing to degrade herself for the chase of materialistic dream of money and power. Her desire for a lavish life causes her to step outside her marriage with George Wilson because he does not have the financial capabilities to satisfy her shallow needs. Myrtle has an affair with Tom Buchanan because he fulfills that financial aspect she thrives for. Myrtle becomes a bigger fool while seeing Tom because he physically abuses her and Tom knows she won’t leave because she wants to be a part in his social stratification. “Some time toward midnight Tom Buchanan and Mrs. Wilson stood face to face discussing, in impassioned voices, whether Mrs. Wilson had any right to mention Daisy's name."Daisy! Daisy! Daisy!" shouted Mrs. Wilson. "I'll say it whenever I want to! Daisy! Dai –– "Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand” (Chapter 2). Tom showers Myrtle with lies that he will leave Daisy and marry her but that never happens. Myrtle decision to stay in her affair with Tom harms her marriage with George Wilson, which unfortunately this leads to her tragic death. Due to Myrtle foolishness to accept the loss of her unrealistic dreams, Myrtle puts herself in a life or death situation, where she is struck by a car. Unknown to Myrtle, the driver of the car
As Matthew J. Bruccoli noted: “An essential aspect of the American-ness and the historicity of The Great Gatsby is that it is about money. The Land of Opportunity promised the chance for financial success.” (p. xi) The Great Gatsby is indeed about money, but it also explores its aftermath of greed. Fitzgerald detailed the corruption, deceit and illegality of life that soon pursued “the dream”. However, Fitzgerald entitles the reader to the freedom to decide whether or not the dream was ever free of corruption.
Three works Cited Materialism started to become a main theme of literature in the modernist era. During this time the economy was good causing jazz to be popular, bootlegging common, and an affair meaning nothing (Gevaert). This negative view of money and the gross materialism in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby serves to be a modern theme in the novel. Throughout the novel, the rich possess a sense of carelessness and believe that money yields happiness.
In The Great Gatsby written by F. Scott Fitzgerald money, power, and the fulfillment of dreams is what the story’s about. On the surface the story is about love but underneath it is about the decay of society’s morals and how the American dream is a fantasy, only money and power matter. Money, power, and dreams relate to each other by way of three of the characters in the book, Gatsby, Daisy, and Tom. Gatsby is the dreamer, Daisy cares about money, and Tom desires and needs power. People who have no money dream of money. People who have money want to be powerful. People who have power have money to back them up. Fitzgerald writes this book with disgust towards the collapse of the American society. Also the purposeless existences that many people lived, when they should have been fulfilling their potential. American people lacked all important factors to make life worthwhile.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's most famous novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), is about many things that have to do with American life in the "Roaring Twenties," things such as the abuse of alcohol and the pursuit of other pleasures, including that elusive entity, the "American dream." Mainly it is the story of Jay Gatsby, told by Gatsby's friend and neighbor, Nick Carraway, a bonds salesman in New York. Three other important characters are Daisy Buchanan, Tom Buchanan, and Myrtle Wilson. Nick is distantly related to Daisy, whose wealthy husband, Tom, went to college with Nick. Myrtle is married to a mechanic but is sleeping with Tom. Fitzgerald's novel seems to affirm the Biblical adage that the love of money is the root of all evil, for his characters value money inordinately. And this attitude is a central moral concern of the novel. Fitzgerald's characters erroneously believe money can buy them love, friends, and happiness.
“Money is the root of all evil”(Levit). Man and his love of money has destroyed lives since the beginning of time. Men have fought in wars over money, given up family relationships for money and done things they would have never thought that they would be capable of doing because of money. In the movie, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, the author demonstrates how the love and worship of money and all of the trappings that come with it can destroy lives. In the novel Jay Gatsby has lavish parties, wears expensive gaudy clothes, drives fancy cars and tries to show his former love how important and wealthy he has become. He believes a lie, that by achieving the status that most Americans, in th...
F. Scott Fitzgerald was an unknown author who only received great acclaim for his book The Great Gatsby after his passing. He was always a keen believer that the pursuit of a dream was much more rewarding than the achievement. In this novel, Nick Carraway recounts the tale of James Gatz’s a poor farmer’s son’s transition to Jay Gatsby an affluent grandiose man. Gatz unlike the other central characters is new money. He overcame the conditions that he was born into. His parents were mere farmers but he has been able to reinvent himself both figuratively and literally. His achievements cannot be dismissed because of such factors as luck or wealth. The medal of honor Gatsby earns from serving in the war and the mansion he owns on West Egg are a consequence of his enduring persistence. Although Gatsby’s objectification of women is displeasing, this novel is considered a great American novel because it convinces its readers, at least briefly, of Niccolò Machiavelli’s ideal that "the ends justify the means." Gatsby transcendes the wealth gap through dealings with alcohol, gains fame, buys a mansion across from his Daisy’s house all in aggregate to be with Daisy Buchanan once again. His perseverance and his rise to fame and riches from nothing are the keystone of the American Dream.
They do not feel guilty for their reckless behaviour and they believe money gives them to act this way. This emphasises Tom and Daisy never faced there consequences of their own actions. According to Mr. Carraway, "they smashed up things and creatures" this includes Gatsby and Myrtle(). When Daisy met Gatsby he was a no one and many years past and he became a rich man. She only went back to him because she saw all the money he had and he could take care of her now. When Gatsby passes away Daisy does not attend his funeral or even send flowers. She leaves town with Tom. When Myrtle passes away Tom does not seem to care, instead he finds a way of getting rid of Gatsby. Tom never cared about Myrtle and only used her for his own sexual pleasure. The Buchanan couple "[retreats] back their money" and moves on with their lives(). They have a broken relationship with people and only care about themselves. They let "other people clean up the mess they had made"() They did not care who got affected by what they did as long as they had ease to their life. They made others pay for the mistakes they made. Daisy made Gatsby pay for the death of Myrtle and Tom made Gatsby pay for a mistake he had made, which was having a affair with Myrtle. The Buchanan couple do not ask forgiveness and ignore their
. He even holds onto this hope when he dies, which was the one thing of Gatsby’s that no one could understand or rationalize. However, the way that Gatsby gets the rest of his wealth was through a foundation of lies and corruption, which gets him the large house and expensive things all around. His personality and personal history end up getting invented while he is getting his money from the bootlegging that he is involved in, but he justifies this to himself because he does all of this reunite with Daisy where they can leave and live the life that they envisioned for themselves during the war and before Gatsby disappeared.